Quetzaltenango. Try saying that after a few caipiriñas... OK, so I think Guatemala is officially my favourite place so far. The country is stunning, the people are delicious (in manner alone, unfortunately. They are a little challenged in the looks department...) and the whole place is so bloody quirky. Example: queuing in the supermarket for groceries (I have REALLY slipped into this budget travel lark, making my own butties for lunch and everything) and there's a bloke there at the front promoting a new cleaning product by playing the most bizarre selection of music at TOP volume. Banarama, Hazel Dean, Donna Summer, Queen; was like a cross between a gay disco and a cheesy wedding. Naturally I was in my element...
Birthday was excellent, ended up staying in Guatemala City. Went clubbing and showed those Guat boys how to work the dancefloor to a bit of Britney, then on Sunday (my actual birthday) I blotted out the hangover and the horror of being one step closer to 30 by checking into the Marriott. Until you have roughed it for a few weeks you will NEVER understand the joy of a quilt... Needless to say, used EVERY facilty and left with a bagful of Marriott cosmetics... On to Antigua, where I climbed an active volcano. One of the coolest things I have ever done. Sounds daft, but it looked like the pictures of volcanoes you used to draw when you were a kid; imposing black cone, loads of smoke, lava, the works. We went right down into the crater at the foot and the side of the thing actually erupted whilst we were there. Glowing red rocks flying down the mountain and landing just 50 feet in front of us. Was incredible! Still on the go, at the moment in above mentioned town (too many letters in it to type it again and to be honest, I´m not entirely sure of the spelling..). Rode the back of a pickup truck to some hot springs today. Pick up trucks are, it seems, THE way to travel in Guat. You can just hail them and jump in the back. In one the other day and it started raining, so the driver got out and gave us a huge plastic sheet to cover ourselves with. Primitive, but effective. Spring pools weren´t that hot, but there was red hot water flowing into them, which was great. Trekked back down through the cloud forrest, which was ace. Bit like being in a real life horror movie - deserted mountain roads, eerie clouds and mist, chainsaw wielding maniacs, girls in bra and panties running into the woods. OK, not the last two but you get the picture.
Have sent the next set of piccies back to UK so will let you know when uploaded (chrsit, I can hear the collective groan from here...)
Later peeps
John xx
PS) My backpack weighs an amazing 13 kilos. What was that I said in an earlier entry about me being the one who wouldn´t be able to travel light...? x
Sunday, June 19, 2005
Wednesday, June 08, 2005
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Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela - Weds 8th June 2005
VENEZUELA - Beautiful, noisy and stupidly hot. End of chapter. The coastal scenery is sensational, there is salsa and meringue music blaring from literally every window and the daily temperature is almost 40 degrees. Beer here is a national obsession. It´s wonderful! It is served EVERYWHERE, ice ICE cold and in 200ml bottles to stop it getting warm before you finish it. People drink it openly; on buses, driving cars, on the street - it´s mad. Obviously I am struggling to fit into this beer-swilling culture but as each day passes, and I get in more and more practice, I find it slowly coming to me... If there´s one thing scarier than an 80MPH mountain-hugging chicken bus , it´s the thought that your driver may well have just knocked back his tenth cerveza of the day...
Had a shaky start here, arriving in Caracas after two back to back flights. Caracas was WELL dodgy; we only spent a couple of hours there but it was enough. Took a 9.5 hour overnight bus to Ciudad Bolivar (quite possibly the hottest, dullest place on Earth - think Chorley but with less activity...) and then a short flight in a five seater plane to Canaima, right over the jungle, which was awesome. Canaima is the jumping-off point for Angel Falls, you can only get there by air and it´s absolutely beautiful - nothing more than a few buildings scattered around a lagoon into which flow four amazing waterfalls. The water is clean and clear but a transparant red/brown colour because of the minerals in the rocks. Went for a swim in the lagoon with an American couple we met which was great... until all four of us got into difficulty. The lagoon bed suddenly dropped off and we were caught in a strong undercurrent caused by the falls. Soon we were all screaming for help, even I was struggling and I´m a strong swimmer. Bob was panicking and I couldn´t reach him; I was convinced he was going to drown. It was absolutely terrifying. We eventually made it to shore with nothing more serious than bruised egos...
Angel Falls was fantastic. We went up river for six hours in a dugout canoe with a motor, navigating rapids, and had to jump out loads of times to pull the boat up through the rocks. Then hiked through the jungle in the rain to the foot of the falls. There was loads of cloud so the views were brief, but sitting there in torrential rain looking up at the falls covered in fog was just superb. Camped overnight in outdoor hammocks and the guide took us out spider-spotting by torchlight, which I think is particularly impressive for me (although true to form I WAS wrapped up to the eyeballs in a sarong and wearing a mosquito headnet, shrieking everytime a bit of nature touched me...). Got ill AGAIN - one piece of dodgy chicken and was yet again bed-ridden for two days. Have also been to Cuevo Del Guacharo, a huge cave, which was amazing. I went back there alone at twilight and sat and watched the 20,000 birds that live in the cave all pouring out of the mouth to feed. It was incredible. We´re on the North coast now, just busing our way from beach town to beach town - the weather is hot (although it rains like a bitch every hour, on the hour), the beer is cold and living is cheap. In short, life is good! Off to Guatemala on Friday so we´re indudging a bit and staying in a resort town tonight - air-con English language cinema with a McDonalds right next door. I could cry with happiness. I shall be spending my birthday (Sunday) in Antigua. Have no idea what the place is like but according to Lonely Planet there´s a club there that plays lots of cheesy Euro-trash. I´m lovin´it already...!
Stay cool guys!
Juan xx
Had a shaky start here, arriving in Caracas after two back to back flights. Caracas was WELL dodgy; we only spent a couple of hours there but it was enough. Took a 9.5 hour overnight bus to Ciudad Bolivar (quite possibly the hottest, dullest place on Earth - think Chorley but with less activity...) and then a short flight in a five seater plane to Canaima, right over the jungle, which was awesome. Canaima is the jumping-off point for Angel Falls, you can only get there by air and it´s absolutely beautiful - nothing more than a few buildings scattered around a lagoon into which flow four amazing waterfalls. The water is clean and clear but a transparant red/brown colour because of the minerals in the rocks. Went for a swim in the lagoon with an American couple we met which was great... until all four of us got into difficulty. The lagoon bed suddenly dropped off and we were caught in a strong undercurrent caused by the falls. Soon we were all screaming for help, even I was struggling and I´m a strong swimmer. Bob was panicking and I couldn´t reach him; I was convinced he was going to drown. It was absolutely terrifying. We eventually made it to shore with nothing more serious than bruised egos...
Angel Falls was fantastic. We went up river for six hours in a dugout canoe with a motor, navigating rapids, and had to jump out loads of times to pull the boat up through the rocks. Then hiked through the jungle in the rain to the foot of the falls. There was loads of cloud so the views were brief, but sitting there in torrential rain looking up at the falls covered in fog was just superb. Camped overnight in outdoor hammocks and the guide took us out spider-spotting by torchlight, which I think is particularly impressive for me (although true to form I WAS wrapped up to the eyeballs in a sarong and wearing a mosquito headnet, shrieking everytime a bit of nature touched me...). Got ill AGAIN - one piece of dodgy chicken and was yet again bed-ridden for two days. Have also been to Cuevo Del Guacharo, a huge cave, which was amazing. I went back there alone at twilight and sat and watched the 20,000 birds that live in the cave all pouring out of the mouth to feed. It was incredible. We´re on the North coast now, just busing our way from beach town to beach town - the weather is hot (although it rains like a bitch every hour, on the hour), the beer is cold and living is cheap. In short, life is good! Off to Guatemala on Friday so we´re indudging a bit and staying in a resort town tonight - air-con English language cinema with a McDonalds right next door. I could cry with happiness. I shall be spending my birthday (Sunday) in Antigua. Have no idea what the place is like but according to Lonely Planet there´s a club there that plays lots of cheesy Euro-trash. I´m lovin´it already...!
Stay cool guys!
Juan xx
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Puno, Peru - Weds 25th May 2005
I have just tried the local specialty - grilled Alpaca, which is a cross between a Llama and a sheep. After getting over the guilt of ordering something that looks more like an inmate at a petting zoo than dinner, I actually quite enjoyed it...
Been a bizarre but interesting week. Crossed the border into Bolivia and spent a few days at a teensy tiny, fantastic town on Lake Titicaca called Copacabana. Stayed right by the water`s edge, went kayaking, climbed (yet another bloody) mountain to watch the sunset and drank unhealthy amounts of red wine. After the strain of the trek, it was bliss. Met a mad bird from Australia (hi Felicity!) who it turns out will be in the UK VERY soon, so lock up your sons/valuable items... Took a boat trip to one of the lake`s islands, Isla Del Sol, and the place was so lovely the three of us ended up spending the night in a hostal right at the top of the island with stunning lake views and excellent breakfast, all for the princely sum of one pound twenty five! Intention was to get over to the capital, La Paz, where I wanted to do a mountain bike trek down ´Death Road´(the most dangerous road in the world, apparantly) but those pesky locals have some gripe with their Prime Minister and all transport was on strike. Bloody selfish gits, how dare they campaign for their rights and disprupt my plans? Humph. So instead headed to Puno, a town on the Peru side of the Lake. After having such a lovely time on Isla Del Sol we decided to boat over to Taquile (population 1,000), another island. Now, you can organise accomodation with a tour company in advance but if you wait til you get to the island you can arrange to stay with the locals themselves and it benefits the community more directly. Or something. Well you know me, I do love my selfless acts of charity...
So, we gets to the island and hauls our asses up to the main square (don`t get excited, this is a dust-pitch measuring 50 feet by 50 feet, it`s most appealing feature being, er... the view) and approach some guy in a colourful stripey knitted hat (apparantly denoting his position of authority on the island) for accomodation advice. Out of nowehere the oldest woman on Earth shows up - bare-foot and chewing coca leaves with her gums and her one remaining (seriously rotted) tooth, and he says, ´go now - you are staying with her´. `OK` we thinks, no problems. So we follow Snaggletoothed Mama Peru (as we affectionately dubbed her after my miserable attempts at conversation in Spanish failed to produce a name) across the island to her house, where she showed us to our room - a clay hut with no electricy and beds with matresses that were actually resting on straw. I shouldn`t complain, at least there were windows and a door (even if the one next to Rob`s bed had a hole in it big enough for a small child to climb through...). I hadn`t even had a chance to drop my bag before Mama P accosted me for the dosh. Ten friggin soles EACH! We had a bleedin` twin room with hot shower for 15 the night before! Still, it was an experience (and we had no other choice) so we coughed up. Then she disappeared. So we trekked round the island, which was beautiful, and watched the sunset - it was dark at 5.30pm. Back at the room, Mama P hadn`t even provided candles so we nipped to a local stall and bought some. By this stage I was getting a bit worried about food; you are suppossed to eat with the family but the family were nowhere to be seen. Rob was no help at all, saying not to worry as we had three packets of biscuits if all else failed... So to kill time in the vain hope Mama P turned up, we played several rounds of cards by candlelight, dressed in ALL our clothes as it was so cold. By 7.30pm I revolted. I shall NOT have biscuits as my evening meal! I shan`t! After another fruitless search for the elusive Mama Peru and her brood, I persuaded Bob to walk with me into town. We had seen numerous cardboard signs outside huts on the way up saying things like ´Restrant´and ´Hit Fod´. I needed to eat. We walked by torchlight all the way back to the main square and there was NOTHING open. Even the main square was deserted, devoid of all life except for one light - a shining beacon of hope in my desperate search for food. We headed over and opened the door and... this was clearly some private party. A quick interrogation of the nearest table revealed them all to be on the same tour and all to be German. My heart sank (not because they were German, because I had hoped this place was open to the public) but determined not to be beaten I headed to the kitchen and hey presto, ten minutes later me and Old Bob were sat with the Germans, eating their food and drinking their beer. Result! We were back in the room by 9pm, still no sign of Mama P. Bob went to sleep almost instantly (how does he do it? How?) leaving me to fend for myself. So I literally entombed myself in my sleeping bag so not even an inch of my flesh touched the bedclothes, fended off a curious spider with the only thing to hand (my factor 15 sunblock spray) and hunkered down for one LONG night... Had about three hours sleep in all, Bob had about 12. Got up, what a shocker - no Mama Peru. So we just left. Boat wasn`t til the afternoon so we found a nice secluded spot and just enjoyed the sun. That is, until a single local woman (you can tell the single ones easily; they have BIG fluffy pom-poms on their skirts whereas the old marrieds have tiny stubby ones) took a shine to me sat next to me smiling for what seemed like an age. She finally left my side, but perched on a rock behind me for half an hour watching me through a pair of binoculars. Was most upsetting. Finally got the boat, but due to local strikes we had to go to a port MILES away from town and take a bus back. Two hours later, high on petrol fumes and lungs full of dust, we are back to semi-civilisation...
Leave Peru in the morning for Venezuela. Will be so nice to get back to sea level as we have spent the last two weeks at 12,000 feet. Let me tell you, that altitude plays HELL with your skin`s moisture balance...
Ciao ciao!
John xx
Been a bizarre but interesting week. Crossed the border into Bolivia and spent a few days at a teensy tiny, fantastic town on Lake Titicaca called Copacabana. Stayed right by the water`s edge, went kayaking, climbed (yet another bloody) mountain to watch the sunset and drank unhealthy amounts of red wine. After the strain of the trek, it was bliss. Met a mad bird from Australia (hi Felicity!) who it turns out will be in the UK VERY soon, so lock up your sons/valuable items... Took a boat trip to one of the lake`s islands, Isla Del Sol, and the place was so lovely the three of us ended up spending the night in a hostal right at the top of the island with stunning lake views and excellent breakfast, all for the princely sum of one pound twenty five! Intention was to get over to the capital, La Paz, where I wanted to do a mountain bike trek down ´Death Road´(the most dangerous road in the world, apparantly) but those pesky locals have some gripe with their Prime Minister and all transport was on strike. Bloody selfish gits, how dare they campaign for their rights and disprupt my plans? Humph. So instead headed to Puno, a town on the Peru side of the Lake. After having such a lovely time on Isla Del Sol we decided to boat over to Taquile (population 1,000), another island. Now, you can organise accomodation with a tour company in advance but if you wait til you get to the island you can arrange to stay with the locals themselves and it benefits the community more directly. Or something. Well you know me, I do love my selfless acts of charity...
So, we gets to the island and hauls our asses up to the main square (don`t get excited, this is a dust-pitch measuring 50 feet by 50 feet, it`s most appealing feature being, er... the view) and approach some guy in a colourful stripey knitted hat (apparantly denoting his position of authority on the island) for accomodation advice. Out of nowehere the oldest woman on Earth shows up - bare-foot and chewing coca leaves with her gums and her one remaining (seriously rotted) tooth, and he says, ´go now - you are staying with her´. `OK` we thinks, no problems. So we follow Snaggletoothed Mama Peru (as we affectionately dubbed her after my miserable attempts at conversation in Spanish failed to produce a name) across the island to her house, where she showed us to our room - a clay hut with no electricy and beds with matresses that were actually resting on straw. I shouldn`t complain, at least there were windows and a door (even if the one next to Rob`s bed had a hole in it big enough for a small child to climb through...). I hadn`t even had a chance to drop my bag before Mama P accosted me for the dosh. Ten friggin soles EACH! We had a bleedin` twin room with hot shower for 15 the night before! Still, it was an experience (and we had no other choice) so we coughed up. Then she disappeared. So we trekked round the island, which was beautiful, and watched the sunset - it was dark at 5.30pm. Back at the room, Mama P hadn`t even provided candles so we nipped to a local stall and bought some. By this stage I was getting a bit worried about food; you are suppossed to eat with the family but the family were nowhere to be seen. Rob was no help at all, saying not to worry as we had three packets of biscuits if all else failed... So to kill time in the vain hope Mama P turned up, we played several rounds of cards by candlelight, dressed in ALL our clothes as it was so cold. By 7.30pm I revolted. I shall NOT have biscuits as my evening meal! I shan`t! After another fruitless search for the elusive Mama Peru and her brood, I persuaded Bob to walk with me into town. We had seen numerous cardboard signs outside huts on the way up saying things like ´Restrant´and ´Hit Fod´. I needed to eat. We walked by torchlight all the way back to the main square and there was NOTHING open. Even the main square was deserted, devoid of all life except for one light - a shining beacon of hope in my desperate search for food. We headed over and opened the door and... this was clearly some private party. A quick interrogation of the nearest table revealed them all to be on the same tour and all to be German. My heart sank (not because they were German, because I had hoped this place was open to the public) but determined not to be beaten I headed to the kitchen and hey presto, ten minutes later me and Old Bob were sat with the Germans, eating their food and drinking their beer. Result! We were back in the room by 9pm, still no sign of Mama P. Bob went to sleep almost instantly (how does he do it? How?) leaving me to fend for myself. So I literally entombed myself in my sleeping bag so not even an inch of my flesh touched the bedclothes, fended off a curious spider with the only thing to hand (my factor 15 sunblock spray) and hunkered down for one LONG night... Had about three hours sleep in all, Bob had about 12. Got up, what a shocker - no Mama Peru. So we just left. Boat wasn`t til the afternoon so we found a nice secluded spot and just enjoyed the sun. That is, until a single local woman (you can tell the single ones easily; they have BIG fluffy pom-poms on their skirts whereas the old marrieds have tiny stubby ones) took a shine to me sat next to me smiling for what seemed like an age. She finally left my side, but perched on a rock behind me for half an hour watching me through a pair of binoculars. Was most upsetting. Finally got the boat, but due to local strikes we had to go to a port MILES away from town and take a bus back. Two hours later, high on petrol fumes and lungs full of dust, we are back to semi-civilisation...
Leave Peru in the morning for Venezuela. Will be so nice to get back to sea level as we have spent the last two weeks at 12,000 feet. Let me tell you, that altitude plays HELL with your skin`s moisture balance...
Ciao ciao!
John xx
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
Aguas Callientes, Peru - Weds 18th May
Well, I did it - I hiked the Inca Trail! Even more impressive, I did so without 1) Showing myself up by passing out, 2) getting sick and 3) plunging down a 12,000 foot crevice. But, I get ahead of myself...
The day before the trail started, we decided to get in some practice and hike around some ruins around Cusco. Not wanting to overdo it we thought we´d get a cab to the first ruin and hike back (about 8km). So, we hires a cab (well I say that, was like the smaller younger brother of the SMART car I hired the week before leaving...) who agrees to take us up there for 10 soles (about one pound eighty). Gets about three miles out of the city and the bloody thing breaks down! So we ended up hiking all the way there and all the way back! Was v cool if not a bit hard on the old ankles... Anyways, up at 4.30am next day to take a bus to the start of the hike. We were in a group of six with one guide; a Canadian couple (Tiffany and Steve) and an American couple (Sarah and Jeff). These people had obviously done this before and come prepared; me and old Bob had a teeny rucksack crammed to the limit with just a few bits of clothes and a micro sleeping bag. Everyone else had plenty of warm clothes, really decent sleeping bags, emergency rations of food, tents with hot-tubs... Oops. Well, day one was fab - a relatively easy hike for four hours to the first campsite. We stopped for lunch and it was unbeliveable, there was this tent with full place settings and a three course meal, set up on a little outlook over the mountains! Was bizarre, felt like Meryl Streep in ´A Passage to India´ This feeling was helped somewhat by the wide-brimmed khaki sunhat I bought at the start of the trail... Finally gets to campsite, which was stunning. Our tent was pitched 3,000 metres up overlooking a valley backed with snow-capped peaks. Was so tired fell asleep rightaway (9pm, the earliest I have been to bed since I was six years old...) despite having a paper-thin matress and the ground being all pebbly. Woke up feeling refreshed and then checked my watch... 11.55pm. Was gutted. Spent next six hours shivering with cold, sliding down the tent every few minutes (was pitched at, like, 45 degrees) and freaking out at all the mountain sounds. I am NOT a born camper...
Day two was the hardest day of my life. I know I have a tendency to exaggerate but... trust me, this was tough. We climbed for seven hours, three miles of continuous uphill mountain pathways, to the summit called ´Dead Woman´s Pass´; friggin hell they are NOT exaggerating with that name. The summit is at well over 4,000 metres - that´s 13,000 feet. The air was so thin I could barely breathe and climbing the last hundred steps to the summit I couldn´t take more than two steps without having to stop. This is not just me but everyone, I hasten to add... Sarah almost blacked out at the top. Then we walked all that way back DOWN - steps so steep you had no choice but to look at your feet the whole way. Second campsite was even more awesome than the first. After dinner I popped a few sleep aids (having learned my lesson well from the first night) and slept like a drunkard. Was fab. I will take two seconds out here to mention that the toilet facilities were less than desirable... Those of you who know me well will know about my aversion to all things toilet related - this was like my worst nightmare. I won´t go into detail but it was GRIM...
Day three - unbelievable. A bit of climbing but mostly pathways that wound around the sides of the mountains. The views were simply jaw-dropping. Another good nights sleep (God bless Tylenol PM, a wonder drug indeed) followed by a 4am start for the final furlong. This was just indescribable. We started off hiking in the dark (well scary) but then watched the dawn break over the Andes - enormous peaks slowly appearing, covered in clouds that were actually BELOW us. Just amazing. We reached the sungate at Machu Picchu in just over an hour. This is what we had been waiting for. We rounded the summit ready to take in the view of the lost inca city across the valley and.... couldn´t see a Godamn thing. The whole place was shrouded on fog. I was absolutely GUTTED. We waited for a while for the fog to lift but it just wasn´t happening. Completely deflated we headed down the path to the city. Let´s just say that the place was renamed Machu-Fuckin-Picchu VERY quickly... We got the the ruins and had our tour. It was an incredible place but we just couldn´t help feeling cheated. It was so foggy we could only see the place we were standing; no views across the city, no mountains, nothing. Vidal, our guide, tried his best to convince us that the fog added an air of mystery but we were all pretty devastated. Four days of agonsising hiking for THIS? We then had the rest of the day to wander round in the fog and imagine what this place really looked like. So we climbed to the highest point in the city, the watchtower, and sat glummly. Then the most incredible thing started to happen. Slowly, the sun started to burn through the fog and it all started to appear beneath us. We sat at the peak of Machu Picchu and watched as it came into view - the enire city, the mountains - eveything. It was the single most awesome thing I have EVER seen, and in a way was even better than getting a first glimpse from the sungate a mile away. What an incredible place. Spent the rest of the day wandering in awe and taking about 17,000 pictures. There were even wild Llamas wandering the terraces. Just amazing, and even better than I had imagined it would be.
Spent last night at the foot of the mountain in a town called Aguas Callientes, soaking in the natural hot springs. What a week. Unfortunately today both of us are REALLY sick. We had to check out of the hostal at 9am and our train isn´t until 4pm. Was going to climb a mountain today (what is happening to me?!) but just too ill. Anyway, dosed up on Immodium so hopefully be OK. Hope so as we have a four hour train journy to Cusco followed by an overnight bus to Puno. The bus company is called ´Pony Express´and we are travelling this enormous pink bus! Will be like Priscilla Queen of the Desert. Only with no sequins, no Abba and five day old clothes...
Anyway I have prattled on for long enough. I am sending two disks of piccies to St Louis with my new American chums Sarah and Jeff, so they will upload for me and as soon as it´s done I´ll let you know. Stay safe peeps!
Juan xx
PS) Whoever ´anonymous´is who put a comment on the last post - you are so right, I should stop getting info out of guide books. The next time I want to know the elevation of a city I shall take a tape measure. Oh, and shoes are NOT a traveller´s best friend. That particular honour goes to ´Wet Ones´... !!! ;-)
The day before the trail started, we decided to get in some practice and hike around some ruins around Cusco. Not wanting to overdo it we thought we´d get a cab to the first ruin and hike back (about 8km). So, we hires a cab (well I say that, was like the smaller younger brother of the SMART car I hired the week before leaving...) who agrees to take us up there for 10 soles (about one pound eighty). Gets about three miles out of the city and the bloody thing breaks down! So we ended up hiking all the way there and all the way back! Was v cool if not a bit hard on the old ankles... Anyways, up at 4.30am next day to take a bus to the start of the hike. We were in a group of six with one guide; a Canadian couple (Tiffany and Steve) and an American couple (Sarah and Jeff). These people had obviously done this before and come prepared; me and old Bob had a teeny rucksack crammed to the limit with just a few bits of clothes and a micro sleeping bag. Everyone else had plenty of warm clothes, really decent sleeping bags, emergency rations of food, tents with hot-tubs... Oops. Well, day one was fab - a relatively easy hike for four hours to the first campsite. We stopped for lunch and it was unbeliveable, there was this tent with full place settings and a three course meal, set up on a little outlook over the mountains! Was bizarre, felt like Meryl Streep in ´A Passage to India´ This feeling was helped somewhat by the wide-brimmed khaki sunhat I bought at the start of the trail... Finally gets to campsite, which was stunning. Our tent was pitched 3,000 metres up overlooking a valley backed with snow-capped peaks. Was so tired fell asleep rightaway (9pm, the earliest I have been to bed since I was six years old...) despite having a paper-thin matress and the ground being all pebbly. Woke up feeling refreshed and then checked my watch... 11.55pm. Was gutted. Spent next six hours shivering with cold, sliding down the tent every few minutes (was pitched at, like, 45 degrees) and freaking out at all the mountain sounds. I am NOT a born camper...
Day two was the hardest day of my life. I know I have a tendency to exaggerate but... trust me, this was tough. We climbed for seven hours, three miles of continuous uphill mountain pathways, to the summit called ´Dead Woman´s Pass´; friggin hell they are NOT exaggerating with that name. The summit is at well over 4,000 metres - that´s 13,000 feet. The air was so thin I could barely breathe and climbing the last hundred steps to the summit I couldn´t take more than two steps without having to stop. This is not just me but everyone, I hasten to add... Sarah almost blacked out at the top. Then we walked all that way back DOWN - steps so steep you had no choice but to look at your feet the whole way. Second campsite was even more awesome than the first. After dinner I popped a few sleep aids (having learned my lesson well from the first night) and slept like a drunkard. Was fab. I will take two seconds out here to mention that the toilet facilities were less than desirable... Those of you who know me well will know about my aversion to all things toilet related - this was like my worst nightmare. I won´t go into detail but it was GRIM...
Day three - unbelievable. A bit of climbing but mostly pathways that wound around the sides of the mountains. The views were simply jaw-dropping. Another good nights sleep (God bless Tylenol PM, a wonder drug indeed) followed by a 4am start for the final furlong. This was just indescribable. We started off hiking in the dark (well scary) but then watched the dawn break over the Andes - enormous peaks slowly appearing, covered in clouds that were actually BELOW us. Just amazing. We reached the sungate at Machu Picchu in just over an hour. This is what we had been waiting for. We rounded the summit ready to take in the view of the lost inca city across the valley and.... couldn´t see a Godamn thing. The whole place was shrouded on fog. I was absolutely GUTTED. We waited for a while for the fog to lift but it just wasn´t happening. Completely deflated we headed down the path to the city. Let´s just say that the place was renamed Machu-Fuckin-Picchu VERY quickly... We got the the ruins and had our tour. It was an incredible place but we just couldn´t help feeling cheated. It was so foggy we could only see the place we were standing; no views across the city, no mountains, nothing. Vidal, our guide, tried his best to convince us that the fog added an air of mystery but we were all pretty devastated. Four days of agonsising hiking for THIS? We then had the rest of the day to wander round in the fog and imagine what this place really looked like. So we climbed to the highest point in the city, the watchtower, and sat glummly. Then the most incredible thing started to happen. Slowly, the sun started to burn through the fog and it all started to appear beneath us. We sat at the peak of Machu Picchu and watched as it came into view - the enire city, the mountains - eveything. It was the single most awesome thing I have EVER seen, and in a way was even better than getting a first glimpse from the sungate a mile away. What an incredible place. Spent the rest of the day wandering in awe and taking about 17,000 pictures. There were even wild Llamas wandering the terraces. Just amazing, and even better than I had imagined it would be.
Spent last night at the foot of the mountain in a town called Aguas Callientes, soaking in the natural hot springs. What a week. Unfortunately today both of us are REALLY sick. We had to check out of the hostal at 9am and our train isn´t until 4pm. Was going to climb a mountain today (what is happening to me?!) but just too ill. Anyway, dosed up on Immodium so hopefully be OK. Hope so as we have a four hour train journy to Cusco followed by an overnight bus to Puno. The bus company is called ´Pony Express´and we are travelling this enormous pink bus! Will be like Priscilla Queen of the Desert. Only with no sequins, no Abba and five day old clothes...
Anyway I have prattled on for long enough. I am sending two disks of piccies to St Louis with my new American chums Sarah and Jeff, so they will upload for me and as soon as it´s done I´ll let you know. Stay safe peeps!
Juan xx
PS) Whoever ´anonymous´is who put a comment on the last post - you are so right, I should stop getting info out of guide books. The next time I want to know the elevation of a city I shall take a tape measure. Oh, and shoes are NOT a traveller´s best friend. That particular honour goes to ´Wet Ones´... !!! ;-)
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